dead man was David Magnus.

I went straight from William H. Seward Square to our boarding-house. A
bulky package had just come for me through a special-delivery
messenger. It contained negotiable securities to the amount of two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars; also a half-dozen sheets of
letter-paper in Indiman's handwriting. I transcribe the latter:

"Congratulations, my dear Thorp, on your marriage. They're a bit
belated, I know, but I haven't been in the mood for writing of late.
Moreover, I wanted to make sure of Mrs. Thorp's dowry. I enclose the
proceeds of the campaign, and fancy that the settlement isn't so far
out of the way. But then our good friend Magnus never expected that he
would be called upon to pay it. Here's the story as I wrote it down
from day to day.

"March 1. It's plain enough that Magnus has been embezzling the fortune
of his niece, Miss Allaire. From what the girl could tell me of her
late parent's mode of living I put them down as being comfortably off,
if not rich. So I have intimated that I might consider an offer of
fifty thousand dollars for the phonographic records in my safe-deposit
vault. At least I will now draw the enemy's fire.

"March 3. Chivers has called and affects to regard my proposition as
absurd. I have riposted by raising my price to seventy-five thousand
dollars. He protested angrily, and I immediately made it one hundred
thousand dollars.

"March 8. Five days of silence and then another call from Chivers. I
met him with the statement that now I would not take less than one
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He seemed flurried and said
that he would have to consult his principal. 'As you like,' I remarked,
carelessly, 'but it will then cost you one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars.' Magnus is evidently alarmed and is wondering how much I
really know.

"March 9. No word from the hostile camp. The inference is that I may
now look for a move on my antagonists' part, 'Otherwise,' as he says in
that precious note, 'there will have to be a new adjustment of
averages.' Precisely.

"The position is probably a dangerous one, and I must take the obvious
precautions. To begin with, I shall not leave these rooms until the
affair is over, and I have made arrangements with an up-town restaurant
to supply me with my meals in sealed vessels. I am thus insured against
a street assault and poison. But all this is probably useless. The
Magnus method of attack will be far m